SQL Hard Interview Questions
PRAGYA RATHI
1. 7-Day User Retention Rate
Task: Calculate the percentage of users active 7 days after their signup.
SELECT
signup_week,
COUNT(DISTINCT a.user_id) * 100.0 / COUNT(DISTINCT s.user_id) AS retention_rate
FROM signups s
LEFT JOIN activity a
ON s.user_id = a.user_id
AND a.event_date = s.signup_date + INTERVAL '7 days'
GROUP BY signup_week;
---
2. Top 5 Products per Category (with Ties)
Task: Rank products within categories by sales, including ties.
WITH ranked_products AS (
SELECT
category,
product_id,
sales,
DENSE_RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY category ORDER BY sales DESC) AS rank
FROM products
)
SELECT category, product_id, sales
FROM ranked_products
WHERE rank <= 5;
---
3. Month-over-Month Revenue Growth
Task: Compute monthly revenue growth percentage, handling missing months.
WITH monthly_revenue AS (
SELECT
DATE_TRUNC('month', order_date) AS month,
SUM(revenue) AS revenue
FROM orders
GROUP BY 1
)
SELECT
month,
(revenue - LAG(revenue) OVER (ORDER BY month)) * 100.0 / LAG(revenue) OVER (ORDER
BY month) AS growth
FROM monthly_revenue;
---
4. Consecutive Purchases/Logins
Task: Find users with 3+ consecutive days of activity.
WITH user_dates AS (
SELECT
user_id,
event_date,
LAG(event_date, 2) OVER (PARTITION BY user_id ORDER BY event_date) AS prev_date
FROM activity
)
SELECT DISTINCT user_id
FROM user_dates
WHERE event_date - prev_date = 2;
---
5. Funnel Conversion Rates
Task: Calculate drop-offs between stages (e.g., visit → signup → purchase).
WITH stages AS (
SELECT
visit.user_id,
signup.user_id IS NOT NULL AS signed_up,
purchase.user_id IS NOT NULL AS purchased
FROM visits
LEFT JOIN signups ON visit.user_id = signup.user_id
LEFT JOIN purchases ON visit.user_id = purchase.user_id
)
SELECT
COUNT(*) AS visits,
SUM(signed_up) AS signups,
SUM(purchased) AS purchases
FROM stages;
---
6. Median Session Duration
Task: Compute median session duration without built-in functions.
WITH ordered_sessions AS (
SELECT
duration,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY duration) AS rn,
COUNT(*) OVER () AS total
FROM sessions
)
SELECT AVG(duration) AS median
FROM ordered_sessions
WHERE rn BETWEEN total/2 AND total/2 + 1;
---
7. Cohort Weekly Retention
Task: Track weekly retention for 8 weeks post-signup.
SELECT
signup_week,
COUNT(DISTINCT user_id) AS cohort_size,
COUNT(DISTINCT CASE WHEN week_diff = 1 THEN user_id END) AS week_1,
COUNT(DISTINCT CASE WHEN week_diff = 2 THEN user_id END) AS week_2,
...
FROM (
SELECT
s.user_id,
DATE_TRUNC('week', s.signup_date) AS signup_week,
DATE_TRUNC('week', a.event_date) - DATE_TRUNC('week', s.signup_date) AS week_diff
FROM signups s
LEFT JOIN activity a ON s.user_id = a.user_id
)
GROUP BY 1;
---
8. 30-Day Moving Average of Sales
Task: Calculate a rolling average of daily sales.
SELECT
date,
AVG(sales) OVER (ORDER BY date RANGE BETWEEN INTERVAL '29 days' PRECEDING
AND CURRENT ROW) AS moving_avg
FROM daily_sales;
---
9. Reciprocal User Follows
Task: Identify mutual follows (A → B and B → A).
SELECT DISTINCT
f1.user_id AS user_a,
f2.user_id AS user_b
FROM follows f1
JOIN follows f2
ON f1.user_id = f2.target_id
AND f1.target_id = f2.user_id
AND f1.user_id < f2.user_id;
---
10. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Task: Compute NPS from survey scores (0-10).
WITH nps_categories AS (
SELECT
CASE
WHEN score >= 9 THEN 'promoter'
WHEN score <= 6 THEN 'detractor'
ELSE 'passive'
END AS category
FROM survey
)
SELECT
(COUNT(*) FILTER (WHERE category = 'promoter') -
COUNT(*) FILTER (WHERE category = 'detractor')) * 100.0 / COUNT(*) AS nps
FROM nps_categories;
